Our Campus, Our Community explains the importance of diversity at McGill

Whether you’re new to McGill or it seems like you’ve been here since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, you’ve probably come to the same conclusion that everyone else has: the best part of being here is not your time spent doing school work. It’s not the time you spend studying in the library, attending class, or slaving away in a lab. What really makes your experience here enjoyable takes place outside of Leacock 132 – it’s the communities you become a part of, the groups you join, the awesome events you attend, and, of course, seeing the result of the incredible extracurricular work that your fellow students do.
The great thing about being at a university like McGill is the resources available to anyone with energy and a curious mind: do you want to learn to make radio and host your own show? How about cook and serve up a vegan lunch to fellow students? Interested in exploring issues of gender, sexuality, and feminism over delicious tea, or perhaps dishing out some great video footage on the internet for all to see? Or maybe you’d like to make your studying really count, and connect your school project with a community organization through the Community University Research Exchange?
Imagine a campus without these opportunities – not just for yourself (if none of those experiences interest you) but not for anyone at all. Imagine a campus where the only time you truly felt like part of the McGill community is when you’re stuck studying in the library during exams with everyone else. Imagine a campus without a sense of community. Imagine a Montreal without the passion and energy of students at McGill. Imagine a school where only one side of the story was heard, where no space existed for a diversity of opinions to develop and flourish.
If you’re involved in any club or organization on campus, you can easily imagine the horror of that situation. Yet the groups who provide opportunities such as the ones described above can only exist and can only continue to supply such valuable experiences to McGill students with student support. They are all funded by student fees and they are all run by students. They’re for all twenty thousand of us.
There’s strength in that number, and it binds together this community in a way that’s not quantifiable. In the same vein, the numerous groups of Our Campus Our Community have joined together with a common message and a common goal. Whether they are services under the umbrella of the SSMU or independent student groups, they all exist to foster a meaningful campus experience for students and to bring in a little bit more of Montreal into the McGill bubble. These groups are all a vibrant part of our campus and our community, just like every McGill student. Even if you’re not an active member of any of the groups below, you probably know someone who is, or you’ve experienced the joy of seeing your own activities make an impact at McGill. In that spirit, help support providing great opportunities to all students in all capacities. Help create an empathetic McGill, and participate in a campus that’s truly a community.

Signed by the collectuve Our Campus Our Community, which includes the following groups: CKUT 90.3 FM , McGill Nightline, TVM – Student Television at McGill, The Midnight Kitchen, QPIRG, Queer McGill, and The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE).

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